As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
However in the year after the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
